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Dolly / Auto Body (not transport)

Hi,
I'm new to welding, and this forum - apologies in advance for basic questions.

I would like to build a dolly for a car shell body (not a road/highway dolly) - but basically a jig with 4 castors that can roll a unibody shell around the garage.

Ideally, I would like to make the dolly's length and width adjustable, by having tube steel of 3"x 3" x 1/4" slide *over* 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" x 1/4" . On paper, a 2 1/2" square tube (1/4" wall) might slide inside a 3" square tube (1/4" wall). I just tried to place a steel order, and asked if "...a 2 1/2" tube would slide inside a 3 " tube ? - and was told it wouldn't.

Is there a good source for accurate steel dimensions? Or other adjustability suggestions? Open to someone else's plans as well. Any / all comments welcome.
Thanks,
Tom

You might want to try 2"x1/4" wall tubing and use 2 1/2"reciever tubing....thats the tubing used to make a hitch reciever....it's expensive but it does not have the flash on the inside from the weld joint and I beleive the inside corners of the tubing are a little tighter to afford sliding a hitch into...Jim

Hi,
I'm new to welding, and this forum - apologies in advance for basic questions.

I would like to build a dolly for a car shell body (not a road/highway dolly) - but basically a jig with 4 castors that can roll a unibody shell around the garage.

Ideally, I would like to make the dolly's length and width adjustable, by having tube steel of 3"x 3" x 1/4" slide *over* 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" x 1/4" . On paper, a 2 1/2" square tube (1/4" wall) might slide inside a 3" square tube (1/4" wall). I just tried to place a steel order, and asked if "...a 2 1/2" tube would slide inside a 3 " tube ? - and was told it wouldn't.

Is there a good source for accurate steel dimensions? Or other adjustability suggestions? Open to someone else's plans as well. Any / all comments welcome.
Thanks,
Tom

I made a similar dolly for truck cabs and beds. I used 2 1/2 X 2 1/2 X 3/16 wall tubing and 2" tubing to slide inside. It was a little sloppy so I drilled a hole in the 2 1/2" tubing, welded a nut to it, and used a bolt to tighten it down to take the slop out - seemed to work good for me....

For the outer tube use a 3/16" wall as this will give you a little slop. The inside of the tube has a ridge which is why you can't use size on size od/id. A nut welded to the outer tube will let you insert a bolt to tighten it once you have it set.

I got in an accident a while ago and I've been asking a few people I know if they know of any good auto body shops. Unfortunately, all my friends are drawing a blank. Basically one of my rear panels got a bit banged up and will either wind up being bent back to shape and painted or replaced and obviously painted. Anyone have any ideas?

Rottisserie/Dolly

Hi,
I'm new to welding, and this forum - apologies in advance for basic questions.

I would like to build a dolly for a car shell body (not a road/highway dolly) - but basically a jig with 4 castors that can roll a unibody shell around the garage.

Ideally, I would like to make the dolly's length and width adjustable, by having tube steel of 3"x 3" x 1/4" slide *over* 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" x 1/4" . On paper, a 2 1/2" square tube (1/4" wall) might slide inside a 3" square tube (1/4" wall). I just tried to place a steel order, and asked if "...a 2 1/2" tube would slide inside a 3 " tube ? - and was told it wouldn't.

Is there a good source for accurate steel dimensions? Or other adjustability suggestions? Open to someone else's plans as well. Any / all comments welcome.
Thanks,
Tom

Tom
here are a couple of pics I found of a body fixture that I thought incorporated a lot of desireable features... The guy that built this one, integrated a lot of featues and details into it that will make it a lot easier and safer for use in a one man shop....